Holders Bayern ease into last 16 of German Cup

Hamburg, Sep 25 (DPA) Bayern Munich put the 5-2 home drubbing by Werder Bremen at the weekend behind them Wednesday as the holders beat Nuremberg 2-0 in the German Cup.VfB Stuttgart beat Arminia Bielefeld by the same scoreline thanks to goals in each half from Cacau and Ciprian Marica, while last year’s beaten finalists Borussia Dortmund needed extra time to overcome Hertha Berlin.

Miroslav Klose put Bayern in front after seven minutes in the all- Bavarian clash with Tim Borowski ensuring Bayern’s place in the last 16 with the club’s second midway through the second half.

Coach Juergen Klinsmann was also able to welcome back Franck Ribery from injury, the French international making his first appearance since damaging his foot at Euro 2008, coming on as a substitute three minutes before Borowski’s strike.

Coming off the back of a 4-1 hammering by Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga and a UEFA Cup loss to Udinese in the past week, Dortmund were in desperate need of a win but needed an extra-time strike from Diego Klimowicz in the 103rd minute to secure a 2-1 win.

Alexander Frei gave Dortmund the perfect start, scoring from the penalty spot on seven minutes, but Marko Pantelic equalized for the visitors 15 minutes later. The two sides remained locked at 1-1 until Klimowicz’s winner.

“We played more compactly than we have recently and showed a great desire to win this important game,” said Dortmund captain Sebastian Kehl.

VfL Wolfsburg had no such problems with Edin Dzeko netting four as they put seven past third-division side Oberneuland. The win continued Felix Magath’s side’s unbeaten start to the season, which now runs to eight games.

“I’m happy that we didn’t make it difficult for ourselves,” said Magath. “It wasn’t good fun but it was effective.”

Hamburg, who lost 3-0 to Wolfsburg at the weekend, got back to winning ways with a 2-0 victory over VfL Bochum thanks to a brace from Mladen Petric.

Karlsruhe also enjoyed a 2-0 win against Kickers Offenbach, Alexander Iashvili and Massimilian Porcello scoring for the Bundesliga side.

In other Cup action, Ronny Koenig netted the only goal of the game as SV Wehen Wiesbaden beat Alemannia Aachen 1-0, Hoffenheim were stunned 3-1 by Freiburg, and Carl Zeiss Jena prevailed 1-0 over FSV Frankfurt.